GloriaKatz

Gloria Katz (1942 – 2018) partnered with her husband Willard Huyck to co-write George Lucas’s “American Grafitti” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”

Her husband was friends with George Lucas at USC and the pair worked with him on multiple films. They were nominated for an Oscar for “American Grafitti,” Lucas’s 1973 film about the cruising scene in California in the early 1960s.

Katz and Huyck were brought in by Lucas as script doctors for his classic 1977 sci-fi film, “Star Wars.” She told the website themarysue.com in 2017 that Lucas had "a lot of reservations" about his script for “Star Wars.” "He said, 'Polish it — write anything you want and then I'll go over it and see what I need.'" "George didn't want anyone to know we worked on the script, so we were in a cone of silence."

She told the website that they wrote about 30 percent of the movie, added humor to the script, and changed Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia character from a woman needing to be rescued into a woman who ‘can take command.”

The pair also wrote screenplays for the movies “Lucky Lady” and Howard the Duck.”

Notify Friends and Family

Add the email addresses of friends or family members you'd like to notify about this obituary.

To: *Invalid To Email

From: *Invalid From Email

Message:

Optional

Please provide me with special offers and discounts from Legacy.com and selected partners.Emails will be sent directly from Legacy.com. We respect your privacy and will not sell your information to a third party. You may opt out at any time. See privacy policy for details.